LEAGUE OF NATIONS C.388.1934.I. Communicated to Annex. the Council. Geneva, September 14th, 1934. PROTECTION OF MINORITIES. APPLICATION OF THE GERÎLAN-POLISH CONVENTION OF MAY 15th, 1923, RELATING TO UPPER SILESIA Sixteenth Petition from the Prince of Pless dated September 5th, 1934, concerning the measures teken in his case by the Polish Authorities. (See documents C.227, 0.227(a), 0.227(b), 0.235, 0.249, 0-252, 0.252(a), 0.269, 0.273, 0.273(a), 0.284, 0.288, 0.294, 0.29 6, 0.296(a), 0.303, 0.305, 0.306, 0.306(a), 0.349, 0.349(a), 0.351, 0.373 and 0.381.1934.I .) Note by the Secretary-General The Secretary-General has the honour to communi­ cate to the Council the English translation of this petition, the French original of which was communi­ cated to the Council on September 7th, 1934. To His Excellency M. J, Avenol, Secretary-General of the League of Nations, Geneva. Geneva, September 5th, 1934. Sir In a letter dated August 22nd last the FUrst von Pless had the honour to transmit to you certain documents relating to the sale by auction of the household effects of his residence at Pszczyna and again to direct the Council's atrention to the fact that his repeated offers had not been sccepted by the authorities and that the latter's obvious desire was to set up faits accomplis. As the FUrst von Pless's accredited representative 1 have the honour to submit to the Council the applications ■ copies of which are attached - addressed by the General Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Poland to the local Courts at Pszczyna, Zory, Mikolow, Myslovice and Katowice together with the orders of these Courts allowing he applications (Annex I.). The Courts have therefore ordered that the property be subjected to compulsory administration at the end of a period of fourteen days, that is to say, on Sept emb e r 11th next. I have the honour to draw the Council's attention to the fact that it was already made clear in our previous petitions that it was the desire of the authorities to sub­ ject the Pless undertakings to compulsory administration. The previous petitions have demonstrated that such has been the constant aim of the Polish authorities since difficulties first arose in 1930. If the authorities persist in their present course, that is to sa;/, unless they withdraw their applications and the Courts cancel their orders, the situa­ tion which 1 have feared and of which I informed the Council as long ago as last May will in a few days have become an actual fact. From the economic point of view, indeed, the institution of compulsory administration would be tanta­ mount to confiscation. It would amount to a new fait soconmli and would continue to set up still other faibs accomplis before the Council is able to complete its examina­ tion of the petitions in question. Compulsory administra­ tion would further entail very considerable expense and would cause enormous losses to the Pless Administration thus increasing the losses which it has already sustained through the attitude of the Polish authorities. I venture to draw the Council's attention to the difficulties placed in the way of the Administration in defending itself against these measures. When on the point of crossing the frontier to attend a meeting at Beuthen in Upper Silesia, the Polish advocate in charge of the defence of the Administration's interests in this case had his brief case seized at the frontier and was thus unable to produce his documents at the meeting. On his return journey the advocate was unable to recover his brief case at the frontier and was compelled to go and fetch it in another town; it was only returned to him on the con­ dition that he showed all the documents it contained to the authorities. By these means the authorities against whom a suit was to be brought, were able to obtain advance knowledge of the Administration's intentions. The latter it need hardly be said was thus placed at a disadvantage. I have entered a protest against these measures both the substance and form of which I regard as unwarranted. I ask the Council to take note of these proceed­ ings on the part of the authorities which are certainly not in keeping with the rules generally applied, and therefore represent an act of discrimination directed against the interests of the Administration. As regards the orders of the Courts, I will con­ fine myself to pointing out that the statement of -rounds declares that ib has been impossible to secure pa; of the sums demanded by the Treasury. - 3 - In this connection I beg to recall the offers of various kinds which the Administration has repeatedly put forward and which would have placed the Treasury in possession of considerable sums of ready money. They would also have made it possible to settle the entire question of any taxation which might still be owing to date, due regard being had to the promises made by the authorities. I attach a letter (Annex II) dated August 27th last in which the Voivode of Silesia states that the Finance Ministry persists in its refusal to allow the Fürst von Pless to benefit under the Decree of November 25th, 1933, on the ground that he had clearly been acting in bad faith. I have once more the honour to draw the Council's attention to the fact that I regard the non-application of that Ordinance as a further act of discrimination against the Administration. Like its predecessors, this new assertion of the authorities is accompanied by neither justification nor explanation. It must therefore be assumed that the Finance Ministry shares the opinion of the Voivode's Office that "bad faith" is proved by the fact that petitions have been submitted to the League of Nations. The above-mentioned letter goes on to say that in view of the total arrears of taxation which the authorities declare to be due, the offers recently made on June 19th were too small to be considered. In any case the offer of 4,500,000 z£oty mentioned in that letter was never made. I venture to draw the Council's attention once more to the fact that immediately after the promulgation of the Supreme Administrative Tribunal's orders in November 1933 - against which orders specific complaints were sub­ mitted in our previous petitions and which I regard as being in contradiction with the general legal practice of that Court as well as being based upon a number of serious irregularities which occurred when these questions were de­ cided by the Commissions of Appeal - the Administration, nevertheless, did everything in its power to reach a settle­ ment of the taxation question. It was the authorities who, after agreeing to a moratorium, suddenly thought fit to have recourse to coercive measures which have been in force continuously since May 17th last and have brought my undertakings to the brink of ruin. I draw the Council's attention to the fact that the authorities have seized all the ready cash which we had in hand and have made the payment of wages to our workers a task of infinite difficulty. The authorities have, indeed, seized a sum of approximately two-and-a-half millions in cash; and, in spite of their assertion to the contrary - to which the Council's attention was drawn in my communication of August 22nd - the sum which they have released was not 550,000 z£oty but a mere 8,000 z^oty. In the telegram dated August 8th the Council was informed that it had only been possible to pay 16% of the wages due to the workmen in respect of the month of -July, and that the wages of the clerical staff had not been paid at all. In consideration of this very serious position, which would have led inevitably to the closing of the under­ takings, and also on the basis of the O-eneva Convention, financial assistance has been granted to the workers and clerical staff in Polish Upper Silesia by their fellow employees in Germany. But this assistance has only made it possible to pay the wages due up to and including September 15th. On the other hand, as a result of the seizure of cash to the amount of 2,500,000 zloty, the necessary sums for the pay­ ments due in respect of supplies and the funds required to maintain the undertakings in operation are not available. In this connection I venture to remind the Council that I have already apprised it of the dangers to which the Administration would be laid open if wages could not be paid. Proceedings may indeed be opened before the courts of lav/. These fears, to which I have already given ex­ pression some time ago, are now shown to be fully justified. The Voivode's Office has opened proceedings against the FUrst von Pless under Article 59 of the President of the Republic's Ordinance of July 11th, 1932, on the ground that he has withheld the payments due to his workmen in respect of wages and that, in so doing, he was actuated by bad faith. The Ordinance provides for imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding 3,000 zloty. The Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Voivodeship has already put certain questions. The written replies, will be found in Annex III.